Summary
Sonic the Hedgehoghas had a chaotic - albeit highly successful - career, to put it mildly. On top of the traditional loop-de-loopin' and ring-grabbin', he’s raced in cars, dueled both 2D and 3D Eldritch gods in a veritable gamut of genres, and even spent a game canoodling with good ol' Princess Elise. Even as time wears on, that relationship will nevernotbe hysterical.
But when he’s not battling Dr. Eggman, or getting a new voice actor swapped in every couple of console generations or so, the Blue Blur’s been busy showing up in the weirdest corporate tie-ins imaginable. These are Sonic’s strangest official crossovers – ranked from “huh, that’s pretty neat” to “who the hell greenlit this?!”
9Sonic X Super Smash Bros.
Everyone Was There!
Sure, it may seem pretty run-of-the-mill nowadays, but it cannot be overstated how big of a deal it was seeing Sonic join the Smash Bros. roster in the Wii’s entry, Brawl, back in the day. So covert was his inclusion that it was kept under wraps until there were only a few months to go before launch. Well, at least until the story mode’s cutscenes leaked, much to Sakurai’s chagrin.
In 2008, the concept of Sonic appearing alongside Mario, Pikachu, and Solid Snake was the stuff of fanfiction. Given the multiversal nature of the Smash series, it’s technically a crossover – so it earns a spot on our list for what it represented: the final thawing of the Nintendo/Sega console war that had raged unabated since the 90s.
8Sonic X Monster Hunter
Broiled To Perfection
This is a melding of disparate gaming universes that only the truly prophetic could have prognosticated. In Sonic Frontiers, you may garb the speedster in Rathalos armour, which enables a coin-granting minigame that sees you roasting meat over a campfire. In fact, it busts the leveling system wide open, since you can use the coins it grants you to fish with Big infinitely and clear out his store.
Of course, the crossover goes the other way, too. InMonster Hunter Rise, you can dress your Palico as Sonic, and there are a host of other Blue Blur cosmetics to knock about in. It’s equal parts cool and deeply unnerving to see your seasoned hunter toppling leviathans while rocking those iconic quills.
7Sonic X Lgeo
Gotta Build Fast!
Sega had resisted the dangling carrot of a licensing deal with LEGO for thirty years, despite fellow platforming hero Mario caving years ago. Finally, the money on the table proved too tempting to ignore, and in the late 2010s and early 2020s, we started to see several forays into plastic building blocks for Sonic and co.
It started with a level pack for the toys-to-life title LEGO Dimensions, which lets you place Sonic alongside other entertainment giants like Jurassic World, Lord of the Rings, The Simpsons, Scooby-Doo, Portal, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, and far more. Then came the actual LEGO sets, including Green Hill Zone and the Biolizard. Most recently, there was a bundle of LEGO skins for Sonic Superstars, which transformed all character models in the game into shiny polymer versions.
6Sonic X Fall Guys
There’s Always Gotta Be A Fall Hog
RememberFall Guys? Sega certainly does, because they collaborated with Mediatonic to release these downloadable costumes. Players were given bulbous, bean-shaped monstrosities in ill-fitting Sonic suits to facilitate the usual physics-based chaos of the game.
There’s Sonic, natch, but also Knuckles and Tails, who look just as disarmingly, er, “skinned” as their blue bud. Rounding out the pack are Super Sonic and Dr. Eggman; the latter of whom, to be fair, is already of a body type befitting the gameplay. Thank goodness they never got round to doing Rouge the Bat.
5Sonic X Mario
Only At The Olympic Games, Though
Once bitter rivals, there’s something amusing about the fact that Sonic and Mario would come together not on the battlefield but as gym buddies. Seeing Sonic run a 100m sprint next to Mazza is a hoot. The fact Sonic sometimeslosesto the rotund handyman is even funnier.
4Sonic X Angry Birds
Those Sure Are Some Enraged Avians
Odds are good you don’t remember Angry Birds Epic RPG. But in 2015, Sonic appeared as a limited-time character, zooming around turn-based battles in this mobile grind-em-up.
In 2024, the partnership resumed, with Sonic characters popping up in Angry Birds 2, Angry Birds Friends, and Angry Birds Dream Blast. In return, Angry Birds characters appeared in Sonic Forces: Speed Battle and Sonic Dash, and the level of surrealism that is seeing Red Bird donning a Sonic headpiece is unmatched.
3Sonic X Hello Kitty
Fast Hero Meets Faster Food
Hello Kitty is no stranger to bizarre IP crossovers herself. Of course, that’s where the dough is! All the same, that didn’t make it any less weird when the merchandising giant teamed up with Sonic for his 25th anniversary in 2016, and for numerous other occasions since.
This partnership led to Sonic plushies in Sanrio outfits (Knuckles as Badzt-Maru, Amy Rose as My Melody, you get the gist), a giant Hello Kitty mascot suit bopping to Jun Senoue beats at fan events, and perhaps most enticingly, a Sonic-themed Hello Kitty pop-up café in Japan. You, too, could chow down on a burger bearing the faces of both a kitten and a hedgehog, if that floats your boat at all.
2Sonic X DC Comics
The House That Batman Built
When you think about it, Sonic and his pals aren’t a million miles away from traditional comic-book superheroes. They all have a unique superpower, each has a trademark colour and catchphrase, and the same villains keep popping back up over and over to ensure the preservation of the status quo. Hence, it seemed quite natural when comics legend DC announced a crossover with the franchise.
In a series of IDW specials, our favourite band of robot-busting mammals are transposed to the DC universe, where they match wits and trade roles with whatever DC hero the writers deemed their closest counterpart. Sonic is The Flash, obviously; then you’ve got Amy Rose as Wonder Woman, Shadow as Batman (ha!), Tails as Cyborg, Silver as Green Lantern, and so on. One shudders to imagine who Big the Cat would become.
1Sonic X Puma
Better Than A Pair Of Power Sneakers
Unlike much of the rest of our list, this particular crossover wasn’t digital – it was physical, wearable, and a wee bit cursed. Sonic and fashion brand Puma teamed up to release limited-edition RS-X3 sneakers inspired by the ‘hog and Dr. Eggman; kind of a ‘choose your allegiance’ deal. If you didn’t snag them on launch, they now go for a pretty penny.
While this wouldn’t be the first footwear-centric partnership Sonic had embarked upon (that honour going to the famous Soap Shoes tie-in for Sonic Adventure 2), this one scores points for… boldness, for want of a better term. We’re talking fuzzy blue textures and garishly neon-red soles. Collectible? Sure. Something you’d want on in public? Debatable.
